Waldkindergarten Maria Saal in front of: parents and children in fear!

Waldkindergarten Maria Saal in front of: parents and children in fear!

In a dramatic turning point in the Education area of ​​Carinthia, the forest kindergarten Maria Saal is in front of the final. After over 20 years, the facility had to announce the closure, which will be effective from the end of summer. 21 children are currently being looked after there, and the closure shocked parents and supervisors who express their anger and disappointment in a letter. Sabine Dörfler, the head of the kindergarten, explains that the kindergarten has become financial difficulties due to the new children's education and care law. According to this law, parents are no longer allowed to pay for childcare, which leads to massive dependence on the facilities on the community financing. These were only covered for the forest kindergarten by the municipality of Maria Saal to 60,000 euros annually, but this is no longer durable in the current financial situation, as Mayor Franz Pfaller (SPÖ) notes.

a financial disaster for the community and the children

The funding for the forest kindergarten will no longer be provided from next year, which makes the continuation of the company impossible. In the past, the children in the forest kindergarten spent time in nature, where they played with roots, trees and stones and explored the environment. The unique pedagogical experience of this kindergarten, which offered a learning environment both inside and outside, will be severely missing. The vision at the time that children can develop in nature and live with it is now difficult to hit the closure.

Many parents fear that this is only the beginning, because other small kindergartens are also fighting with financial uncertainty. Dörfler accuses the community that freedom of choice for parents is restricted with regard to the election of the educational institution. The responsible state council, Daniel Fellner (SPÖ), has also admitted that there is no obligation for the community to support private institutions if there are enough public places available. The forest kindergarten will also cost five employees who looked after the children, which only tightens the situation.

The end of the Waldkindergarten Maria Saal not only raises questions about financing, but also illuminates the challenges that many educational institutions in Austria is currently looking for, since the keeping of the communities has decided which institutions can be covered.

ORF reports on the closure of the forest kindergarten , while Kleine Zeitung deals with the financial aspects and the effects on the kindergarten children.